Colorado University Athletics
Latest Buffs 'Hall' Class Inducted In Celebration
November 06, 2015 | Neill Woelk
BOULDER — An overflow crowd of more than 400 people shared plenty of laughs, lots of cheers and even some tears Thursday night as the University of Colorado Athletics Hall of Fame inducted its 11th class.
The latest group is an impressive array of former athletes, coaches and administrators representing six decades of excellence and 10 sports at CU.
Each of the inductees spoke of the opportunities they received as Buffaloes, the lifelong relationships they formed and the support they enjoyed. They spoke of championships, of records, of careers after graduation and of family.
Basketball star Erin Scholz delivered a stirring, heartfelt message.
“This award is about you,” Scholz told the crowd. “The award is about all of us. We all have a part to play. Thank you for all that you do in your lives, thank you for your commitment to show up every day.”
The latest class included nine athletes, one coach and one administrator: Chauncey Billups, basketball, 1995-97; Jon Burianek, administration (1968-2006); Bill Fanning, baseball (1946-49); Stephan Hienzsch, skiing (1975-78); Frank Prentup, baseball and assistant football coach (1941-69); Mike Pritchard, football (1987-90); Erin Scholz, basketball (1993-97); Mark Scrutton, cross country and track (1979-83); Nicole Vranesh, volleyball (1990-93); Scott Wedman, basketball (1971-74); and Tom Woodard, golf (1973-77).
Administrator Jon Burianek, who began working in the athletic department as a student and ended up working for five athletic directors as an associate athletic director and the department's business manager, delivered an emotional "thank you" to the athletes and coaches for making his job possible.
He also paid special tribute to the department's support personnel, people who are seldom recognized but are integral to its successes.
“This award is not about me, but about all of you, the people who worked behind the scenes for the athletes, the coaches and the fans,” Burianek said.
There were also plenty of lighter moments. Basketball player Chauncey Billups — who first became a CU fan because of the footall team's successes — recounted his first day at CU, when he walked into his first class, one that had approximately 500 students.
“There were two blacks in the whole class,” Billups said. “It's the first time in my life I had ever felt intimidated.”
So intimidated, in fact, that Billups walked out of the class to the basketball offices and asked then-assistant coach Ricardo Patton to help him drop the class and find another. After a few questions from Patton asking if something had happened during the class, Billups finally admitted he just felt “uncomfortable.”
“Then he asked me how long it took me to get over here,” Billups said. “I said about six or seven minutes. He said, 'Good. You've got six or seven minutes to get back to class.'”
Billups called the situation a “great teaching moment. He taught me that you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”
Mark Scrutton, a cross country and track star who returned home to his native England upon graduation, said “It is a fantastic honor to be back here. The university has gone from strengths to strengths.” He lauded the recent successes of the program under current coach Mark Wetmore and added, “It was great to be part of the program, however small a part it may have been, and a joy to be here. Thank you very much indeed.”
Scrutton also noted that when he first visited the United States, he visited Stanford after his trip to Colorado. At Stanford, the coach at the time told him, “We don't take foreigners on our track team.”
Coincidentally, the CU football team will play host to Stanford on Saturday, when all of the Hall of Fame inductees will be honored again at halftime.
“It would make my weekend in a small way if we thrash them,” Scrutton said with a laugh.
Football star Mike Pritchard remembered being recruited by now-CU athletic director Rick George, when George was the recruiting coordinator at Illinois.
“He almost got me,” Pritchard said. “He almost persuaded me to go there.”
But when Pritchard called George to inform him that he had chosen Colorado, Pritchard said George told him, “Great decision. Me too.” Unbeknownst to Pritchard, George had also just succumbed to the recruiting powers of CU head coach Bill McCartney, who had offered George a position as CU's recruiting coordinator. George had just accepted the job — and nearly 30 years later, it was George who called Pritchard to inform him that he'd been elected to the Hall of Fame.
While there were plenty of personal anecdotes, both funny and touching, the overwhelming theme of the evening was a sense of gratitude to CU and the opportunities presented by the school, the athletic department and the people who work there.
“The the University of Colorado, thank you not only to notice what we did, but to honor us for it,” said basketball player Scott Wedman, who enjoyed a standout college career in Boulder before playing 13 years in the NBA. “Thank you not only for my basketball career, but for my education.”
Wedman, who earned his degree in business, is now has a successful real estate career in Kansas City, where he first played in the NBA.
Two inductees were represented by their sons. The late Bill Fanning, a baseball standout who later became an ultra-successful high school coach, was represented by Bill Fanning Jr. Longtime CU baseball coach and assistant football coach Frank Prentup was represented by Duke Prentup. Fanning played for Prentup at CU.
Both men spoke of the profound influence their fathers had on their players.
“He taught us to be good men and good citizens the rest of our lives,” Duke Prentup said. “Based on letters from former players and teammates I've received, I believe he had an overwhelming winning record in that regard.”
Skier Stephan Hienzch, a member of four NCAA championship teams in the 1970s and a two-time NCAA individual champion under Bill Marolt, called choosing to attend CU “one of the best decisions I've ever made.” He also noted the storied tradition of the sport at Colorado, one that has produced 20 NCAA team titles and countless All-Americans and individual champions, saying, “I'm very proud to be a part of that legacy.”
Nicole Vranesh, a member of some of CU's most successful volleyball squads ever, called her induction at “great honor.” The Buffs won a Big Eight title during her time at Colorado, a time when the volleyball team still practiced regularly in ancient Carlson Gymnasium.
Thursday, she had the opportunity to tour CU's volleyball and basketball practice facilities. “It's nice to see the continuing support,” Vranesh said. “My time here, my experience — I wouldn't trade it for anything.”
Perhaps the biggest cheers of the evening were reserved for golfer Tom Woodard, the first African-American to play varsity golf at CU and believed to be the first black player to earn any kind of All-American distinction when he garnered honorable mention honors in 1977.
Woodard, who attended CU on an Evans Scholarship, noted that no one ever achieved success without mentors. He noted how junior golf was still greatly segregated when he was a youngster, and he told how golfing at CU gave him the opportunity to realize his dreams of playing on the PGA Tour and later becoming a teaching pro.
CU, Woodard said, provided a “quality education” and the opportunity to play “quality golf courses.”
“My experience here was amazing,” Woodard said.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
